Atomic layer deposition of dielectric Y2O3 thin films from a homoleptic yttrium formamidinate precursor and water

Abstract

We report the application of tris(N,N′-diisopropyl-formamidinato)yttrium(III) [Y(DPfAMD)3] as a promising precursor in a water-assisted thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for the fabrication of high quality Y2O3 thin films in a wide temperature range of 150 °C to 325 °C. This precursor exhibits distinct advantages such as improved chemical and thermal stability over the existing Y2O3 ALD precursors including the homoleptic and closely related yttrium tris-amidinate [Y(DPAMD)3] and tris-guanidinate [Y(DPDMG)3], leading to excellent thin film characteristics. Smooth, homogeneous, and polycrystalline (fcc) Y2O3 thin films were deposited at 300 °C with a growth rate of 1.36 A per cycle. At this temperature, contamination levels of C and N were under the detectable limits of nuclear reaction analysis (NRA), while X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements confirmed the high purity and stoichiometry of the thin films. From the electrical characterization of metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) devices, a permittivity of 13.9 at 1 MHz could be obtained, while the electric breakdown field is in the range of 4.2 and 6.1 MV cm−1. Furthermore, an interface trap density of 1.25 × 1011 cm−2 and low leakage current density around 10−7 A cm−2 at 2 MV cm−1 are determined, which satisfies the requirements of gate oxides for complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) based applications.